text:
Art Museum
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Closed Sunday & Monday
Admission: Free
Centennial Complex
2111 East Willett Drive
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-6622
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
The UW Art Museum plays a vital role in undergraduate and graduate instruction at the University of Wyoming. By initiating a teaching gallery model, the Pat Guthrie Special Exhibitions Teaching Gallery supports the University's academic mission by working with faculty to select works of art from the permanent collection for specific courses that are available to students in the current semester.
While the gallery is designed to meet the needs of the academic community, it is also open to the public to demonstrate connections between the Art Museum and teaching across curriculum. The gallery is divided into four sections, one exhibition per wall and will change every semester. Classes for the Fall Semester 2013 are:
History 4990 – American Consumer Culture; Assistant Professor Isadora Helfgott
American Consumer Culture examines the social history of mass consumerism in the United States from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. It surveys major political and economic turning points and considers the ways Americans of different backgrounds have embraced, resisted, and shaped consumerism through individual choice and collective action, paying attention to both its critics and its champions. These works introduce the diversity of perspectives through which artists have confronted the cultural and visual impact of consumer society.
Art 2210 – Painting I; Assistant Lecturer Patrick Kikut
Painting I is an introductory level course that introduces problems in painting, develops skill, techniques, and concepts. With the emphasis on mastering techniques, lectures and critiques guide the students through an understanding of the processes of painting. The artworks introduce students to a variety of approaches to landscape painting.
Art 3760 – American Art History; Assistant Professor Rachel Sailor
American Art History addresses American art within the continental United States from the first European encounters with the New World to 1900. Investigations in painting, sculpture, and architecture will be covered, as well as some photography, prints, and decorative arts. Students will investigate the use of portraits and landscapes that created an American genre.
Honors 3153 – Investigating Culture Diversity; Assistant Lecturer Diane Panozzo and Curator of Education Wendy Bredehoft
Investigating Cultural Diversity and Identity through Art engages students of all majors in deep looking and inquiry with original art in the Art Museum. Through this process, students learn how to think — about culture, diversity, and identity — as they explore the art, research related ideas and topics, and develop a final project based on their personal investigations. The art of Thomas Moran is one exhibition they are studying this semester.
(left) Thomas Moran (English/American, 1837-1926), Cliffs of Colorado, not dated, chromolithograph, 14-1/16 x 8-7/8 inches, gift in memory of John D. Fryxell, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 2009.3.20, for use with Honors Program 3153 – Investigating Cultural Diversity
Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889-1975), Lewis and Clark at Eagle Creek, 1967, Tempera on paper, 13-5/8 x 16-5/8 inches, Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Fred Goodstein, Mr. & Mrs. Jack Rosenthal, Ambassador and Mrs. Thomas Strook and the National Endowment for the Arts, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 1972.21
Art Museum
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Closed Sunday & Monday
Admission: Free
Centennial Complex
2111 East Willett Drive
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-6622
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Atmospher Sci & Global Chg
March 2014
LA Times Cites PNNL Climate Modeling in Geoengineering Article
Geoengineering modeling research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is proving impactful in a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The article, "Climate engineering ideas no longer considered pie in the sky" includes PNNL research assessing the impacts of geoengineering techniques. The article covers proposed geoengineering techniques, as well as several efforts to assess geoengineering. Geoengineering describes deliberate technologies proposed by some as a temporary way of reducing the climate effects of greenhouse gases while mitigation is in progress.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Twitter rolls out new DM filter, Microsoft's Surface lineup reportedly leaked, Words With Friends database is hacked.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.
Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the theme music.
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!
Thanks to our mods, Kylde, Jack_Shid, KAPT_Kipper, and scottierowland on the subreddit
Send us email to [email protected]
Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!


text:
This document will help you upgrade Continuum from 1.2.x to 1.3.3 and above.
When upgrading Continuum, it could have some database model changes. Usually these changes will be migrated for you, but in some cases you may need to use a backup from the previous version and restore that data into the new version. The Data Management tool exports data from the old database model and imports the data into the new database model.
If you had used the APP_BASE environment variable in Continuum 1.2 to differentiate your configuration from the installation, you should rename it to CONTINUUM_BASE in Continuum 1.3.
The Jetty version in Continuum 1.4.1 and above has been upgraded to 8.1.7. When upgrading to Continuum 1.4.1 or higher, there is a need to update the contents of $CONTINUUM_BASE/conf/wrapper.conf to match the one included in the new distribution if any copies or modifications have been made. The jetty.xml format has also changed, and should be re-added from the distribution with any modifications previously made. It is no longer read from $CONTINUUM_BASE, and JNDI connections can now be managed via the files in the contexts directory.
The Jetty version in Continuum 1.3.4 and above has been upgraded to 6.1.19. When upgrading to Continuum 1.3.4 or higher, there is a need to update the library contents listed in $CONTINUUM_BASE/conf/wrapper.conf with the ones included in the new distribution especially if the $CONTINUUM_BASE directory is separate from the installation.
In Continuum 1.3.6, configuration for local repositories in build agents were added. This is used to match the local repository in the build agent to that of the local repository (used by the project to be built) set in the master. So if you are upgrading from a lower version, you might need to add the localRepositories configuration in your build agent's configuration file. For more details, read Installing and Configuring a Build Agent.
There are 2 databases that need to be considered: one for the builds and one for the users.
While the databases typically auto-upgrade across releases, you may wish to perform an export and import to have full control of the upgrade, make modifications to the data, or retain a backup in case a downgrade is needed.
First, download the Data Management tools you will need. The tool is a standalone JAR that you can download from the central repo.
You will need to download two versions of the tool, one for the export out of the old version and one for the import into the new version:
Note: The 1.2, 1.2.2 and 1.2.3 released versions of this tool have a bug. To export databases from 1.2.2 or 1.2.3, you will need to use version 184.108.40.206 of the tool. To export databases from 1.2, you may use the 1.1 version of the tool.
Next, follow these steps to export data from the old version
java -Xmx512m -jar data-management-cli-220.127.116.11-app.jar \ -buildsJdbcUrl jdbc:derby:${old.continuum.home}/data/databases/continuum \ -mode EXPORT \ -directory backups
Then, follow these steps to import the data to the new version
java -Xmx512m -jar data-management-cli-1.4.3-SNAPSHOT-app.jar \ -buildsJdbcUrl jdbc:derby:${new.continuum.home}/data/databases/continuum \ -mode IMPORT \ -directory backups -strict
Note: Remove -strict when importing data from 1.3.1 to 1.3.x to ignore unrecognized tags due to model changes.
Finally, be aware that sometimes the NEXT_VAL values in the SEQUENCE_TABLE need to be adjusted. Before starting Continuum for the first time after the import, connect to the database with a client like Squirrel SQL and check the values in the NEXT_VAL column of the SEQUENCE_TABLE.
Values must be greater than the max ID value in each table. For example, the next value of org.apache.maven.continuum.model.Project must be greater than the greatest ID in Project table.
Here are some example SQL statements. You may need to add or remove lines depending on the contents of your database.
UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(systemconfiguration_id)+1 from SYSTEMCONFIGURATION) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.system.SystemConfiguration'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from BUILDQUEUE) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.BuildQueue'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from SCHEDULE) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.Schedule'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from BUILDDEFINITION) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.BuildDefinition'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from LOCALREPOSITORY) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.continuum.model.repository.LocalRepository'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from PROJECTGROUP) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.ProjectGroup'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(scmresult_id)+1 from SCMRESULT) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.scm.ScmResult'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(projectdependency_id)+1 from PROJECTDEPENDENCY) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.ProjectDependency'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from BUILDDEFINITIONTEMPLATE) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.maven.continuum.model.project.BuildDefinitionTemplate'; UPDATE SEQUENCE_TABLE set NEXT_VAL = (select max(id)+1 from ABSTRACTPURGECONFIGURATION) WHERE SEQUENCE_NAME='org.apache.continuum.model.repository.AbstractPurgeConfiguration';
Now you can start your new version of Continuum.


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Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) claim earlier this week that the CIA violated provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) when it accessed computers used by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, could be hard to substantiate, according to a leading legal expert.
For one thing, it's not clear whether the CIA had rights to the accessed computers, at least as defined under the CFAA, said Orin Kerr, a law professor at the George Washington University Law School and a former trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.
It's also not clear if the restrictions the Intelligence Committee had in place for governing access to the computers were strong enough to trigger a CFAA access violation claim, Orin wrote in a blog for Lawfare.
Earlier this week, Feinstein accused the CIA of illegally accessing computers used by members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate the agency's detention and interrogation practices during the George W. Bush administration.
The CIA set up the Intelligence Committee's computers at a facility in northern Virginia to enable committee members to review tens of thousands of documents, memos, and other files pertaining to the CIA's interrogation practices.
The only CIA officials who were supposed to have access to the network were the agency's IT personnel, who were not permitted to share information gathered from the system with others at the agency.
According to Feinstein, however, CIA officials accessed the network anyway and removed documents that would have cast an unfavorable light on the agency's detention and interrogation practices. CIA officials accessed the walled-off committee network to remove documents previously provided to them by the CIA and to access the committee's internal work and communications, Feinstein charged Tuesday.
She alleged the agency's actions violated the CFAA's provisions against unauthorized access to a protected computer and an executive order prohibiting the agency from conducting domestic searches.
The CFAA is a federal statute that makes it illegal for someone to knowingly access a computer without authorization or to exceed authorized use of a system. It is an online anti-trespassing law that has gained considerable notoriety in recent years because of the manner in which over-zealous prosecutors have used the law to prosecute crimes for which it was never intended.
Critics have claimed that the ambiguous wording of the law allows prosecutors to pursue felony charges against individuals for minor terms of service and computer misuse violations.
Courts around the country have been split on how the law should be interpreted. Some courts have held that people with valid access to data on a computer cannot be held liable under CFAA if they later abuse that access to steal, sabotage or misuse the data. Other courts have ruled the opposite way.
In Feinstein's instance, it is not clear at all who controls access to the computer network in question, Kerr wrote. Though the intelligence committee is the primary operator of the network, is the CIA that owns the systems and the network.
"Who has the superior claim to control access? I don't think there's an obvious answer," Kerr wrote. It is possible that the CIA has a better claim to controlling access since it owns the system and maintains the right to have IT people access the systems, he said.
The kind of restrictions the committee had in place for governing access to the systems is also important, Kerr noted. If the only barrier to access was a contractual agreement between the two sides, that alone may not be enough to trigger a CFAA violation.
Some courts have held that the CFAA can only be applied in situations where someone deliberately circumvents or overrides an access restriction, like breaking a password-protected system. Others have held that persons can be held liable under CFAA even for breaking a contractual agreement.
"Was the only barrier to CIA access the agreement between the CIA and the Intelligence Committee? If so, that implicates the circuit split over whether violation of contractual terms can trigger CFAA liability," Kerr said.
The CIA could also use its status as an intelligence agency to seek exemption from the CFAA's provision if it can show the access was part of lawfully authorized activity.
"Establishing CFAA liability requires concluding that the Committee properly controlled access; that the CIA violated an access restriction that the CFAA protects; that the violation was intentional; and that the exception doesn't apply," he noted.
This article, Senator's claims of CIA violating computer fraud act shaky, legal expert says, was originally published at Computerworld.com.
Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at @jaivijayan or subscribe to Jaikumar's RSS feed. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Jaikumar Vijayan on Computerworld.com.
Read more about government it in Computerworld's Government IT Topic Center.


text: Dear Greetings, I am Lawrence Namian from Sierra Leone the only son of late Engineer Namian , i am writing you from Rep of Cote d'Ivoire where i Have been taking refuge after the brutal war and Murder of my parents by the rebels during the renewed Fighting in our country Sierra Leone. Because of the war my late Father sold his manufacturing company and took me to a nearby country Cote d'Ivoire where he deposited Twelve million five hundred dollars ($12.5m) in his foreign account with one of the prime bank here. Please i have prayed before contacting you with the trust in God that you will be of help to me, with the current political situation in Cote d'Ivoire now, I am honorably seeking for your assistance to transfer this Money to your account for a good investment Project in your country, (1) To serve as a guardian of this fund since I am only 19years. (2) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my Education and to secure a resident permit in your country i am willing to offer you 20% of the total sum for Your assistance and I want to assure you that this transaction is 100 percent legal, Please help me to get out of this terrible situation , I wait to hear from you for more details. Thanks, Lawrence Namian +225 0844 3072 lawrencenamian at yahoo.com


text:
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- The latest development news, culled from recent wire reports:
Looking to keep track of all the various projects in development? Click here to visit our signature "Devwatch" section. There visitors can view our listings by network, genre, studio and even development stage (ordered to pilot, cast-contingent, script, etc.). It's updated every day!
Frances Conroy is the latest "American Horror Story" alum set to return for the show's third season (@MrRPMurphy); CBS has concluded contract negotiations with "The Good Wife's" Josh Charles, who's now locked in through season five, while John Noble will drop by as "a client from Alicia's (Julianna Marguiles) past" (TVLine.com, TheLoop.ca); and "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan will write and direct the show's final episode (THR.com).


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Why does my dog urinate when he meets new people or when I come home?
In this type of house soiling, the dog appears to lose control of its elimination in a number of situations:
- When the dog is fearful, anxious, or overly submissive about being approached and takes on a submissive posture with ears back, retraction of lips, avoidance of eye contact, cowering, lowered body and sometimes turning onto the back (see (48) Canine Communication – Interpreting Dog Language).
- When the dog is overly excited, especially during greetings.
However, when you look closely at some of these dogs, they are often exhibiting multiple competing emotions (conflict-induced behavior), in that they are socially attracted to the owner or visitor while displaying fear, anxiety or excessive submission.
These types of urination are most commonly seen in puppies and young female dogs.
For pets that are fearful, attempts to reach for or approach the puppy may elicit a fear response especially if it has been punished in similar situations in the past. For pets with submissive urination, a bold or assertive approach, reaching for the dog, or standing over the dog, will further aggravate the fear and submissive posturing. Excitement induced urination might occur when the dog greets family members, especially when they return home after an absence, or during vigorous petting. As indicated, the combination of any two of these emotions (conflict) may be the most significant factor. Owner intervention in the form of verbal reprimands or punishment only serves to make the dog more submissive, more anxious, more fearful and more conflicted at further approaches.
Although this problem can be seen in dogs of any age, these types of urination are most commonly seen in puppies and young female dogs. This could be because male puppies are somewhat more assertive or because they anatomically have a longer urethral tract. With age, many dogs grow out of this problem, perhaps either because they gradually become less excitable during greeting or because they develop greater urine control with sexual maturity. Treatment should focus on reducing the pet's excitement and arousal, reducing the fear and anxiety, and training for calm and relaxed greeting behavior.
How can submissive and excitement urination be treated?
For submissive and fearful urination, it is important that the owner and all visitors interact with the pet in a less assertive or threatening manner. Approaches and greeting should be consistent and a loud tone of voice, sudden movements, reaching and direct eye contact should be avoided. All training should be reward based and physical restraint or physical punishment must entirely be avoided. It is important that a reaching hand is always considered to be a friendly and reassuring gesture by the puppy (see (62) Teaching Calm – SOFT and Handling Exercises). A focused sit with eye contact should be part of the relaxation and settle exercises (see (61) Teaching Calm – Settle and Relaxation Training). If you catch your puppy in the act of house soiling, going into the garbage or chewing on something inappropriate, you might try a mild verbal reprimand, a noise device, a spray of water, or a pull on a long leash, but never anything physical.
What can I do to get started?
The goal of training is to teach your dog to greet and be handled in a manner that does not lead to fear, submission or excessive excitement. If you can avoid these reactions, the elimination might be prevented. At first you may be able to get your pet to display a behavior that it already does consistently without leading to urination. Consider what tricks or commands your dog does particularly well – shake a paw, sit up and beg, or fetch. You might throw a favored ball or treat so that your puppy learns to play when you enter or approach. If the dog anticipates food or ball playing at each greeting, it is less likely to eliminate. Another consideration is whether your dog might focus on a favored toy or treat or alert to a particular sound (e.g., squeaky toy, food jar). If this is the case you may be able to use these cues to get your dog to focus on something other than your approach.
What is the best way to overcome this problem?
The best solution is to replace the excited, fearful, and submissive responses with a settled method for greeting. At first you will need to identify and avoid those stimuli that might incite the behavior, while teaching your pet to sit and settle or go to its bed and relax to receive favored rewards (see (61) Teaching Calm – Settle and Relaxation Training). Use favored food rewards or toys as lures to train your dog to focus and settle. Gradually work to get a longer and more focused settle response. A head halter can be useful to maintain a sitting position and to gradually shape and increase more prolonged eye contact and a progressively more relaxed state. A "go to bed" or "go to mat" exercise would also be particularly useful to settle the dog away from the owner before allowing it to approach and greet. Before attempting to use these commands and exercises during actual greetings, you should gradually progress from teaching your puppy to stay in a focused sit while you walk away and return, and slowly work up to more intense handling. Practice approaching and kneeling beside the puppy when it is relaxed in its bed, then practice leaving and returning, throwing your dog a treat if it remains seated or lying on its mat.
The goal of training is to teach your dog to greet and be handled in a manner that does not lead to fear, submission, or excessive excitement.
When greeting the dog, you should begin by letting your dog approach you rather than going to your dog. Kneel down rather than stand over the dog, speak softly, and pet the chest instead of the head. When greeting a very fearful or submissive dog, you may initially need to completely ignore it at greeting, even to the extent of avoiding eye contact. Allow your dog some time to settle down and only allow it to approach you if it is calm. By using a favored toy or giving a favored chew, you may be able to entice your puppy to approach or to allow lifting and handling while it takes the food or plays with the chew toy. As you pat or stroke your dog, be careful to avoid inducing further fear or submission; also, avoid letting your dog get too excited.
For excitement urination, those stimuli that initiate the behavior should be avoided. During greetings, owners and guests should refrain from eye contact, physical contact, or verbal contact until the pet calms down. Greetings should be very low key and words spoken in a low, calm tone. The puppy might be taught to do an alternative behavior but the goal should be to practice a relaxed greeting (sit/focus or go to your mat). Stop and perhaps even walk away if the puppy starts to get excited. Another important aspect of treating over-excitement to visitors is repeated presentations of the stimulus, so that the dog learns the correct response. If visitors come only infrequently, the dog does not have the opportunity to learn a new behavior. By scheduling visitors to come, visit briefly, leave by another door and then re-enter, the dog may learn to be less excited and/or submissive with each entrance. Each time the person returns they are more familiar and less likely to stimulate the urination behavior. This allows the dog to "practice" the good behavior and reinforce the appropriate response.
Are there drugs that might help?
For refractory cases, the use of drugs to increase bladder sphincter tone might also be considered as an adjunct to behavior therapy. In some cases of fearful and submissive urination the synthetic canine pheromone (AdaptilTM) may be helpful.


text:
If there is one thing we like, it's a fellow hacker so enthusiastic about his or her work that they write the article practically for us by including as much detail and information as possible.
In this two part hack, [Scott] wrote in to let us know not only about a high school built high altitude balloon, but also his $5 long range RF transmitter. The former is simply GPS and video data logged over the flight, but [Scott's] specialty comes in the latter. A 74HC240 octal buffer is using to amplify the signal (Morse code) from an ATTiny44a with a 29MHz oscillator, producing a usable signal as far away as 200 miles.
It is low bandwidth, but if you're looking for a simple transmitter in your project and need something with more power (and a smaller package), this might be the ticket.


text:
(visited by Rainer Mautz and Elionora)
09-Jun-2014 -- We hiked 955 km from Zurich to visit this confluence point. Start of this trip was April 2013, when we began our journey to Rome. The specialty of this trip is that hiking is not done in one go, but in stages. Once every month, we hike for a weekend and travel back home by train. Then we take a train to the place we had stopped last time and resume our hike from the same train station.
Due to Whit Sunday, we spent an extended weekend for our hike, this time starting in Rosignano Solvay south of Livorno. The day before the visit we missed this confluence point because it was too hot to make a deviation and too late in order to reach Grosseto after a possible confluence visit.
On confluence day, we had originally planned to hike further south towards Rome and skip this confluence visit. But it was going to be 38° C – a temperature where hiking is not pleasant. So we spontaneously rented a car in Grosseto (27 km from the CP) and simply drove there.
At a distance of 900 m, we reached a gate. Before we had figured out a solution for getting closer, the gate was opened by a German tourist couple. They were guests of the Wine Resort 'Conti di San Bonifacio', a well maintained high class hotel and restaurant (original website here). We parked at their official parking lot in 320 m distance to the confluence point. First, we went to the reception explaining our mission and promptly got permission to visit the confluence and take pictures. I should add that the people were absolutely friendly and had no suspiciousness (which is not often the case).
Visiting the confluence point was then just a short stroll over the park-like area of the resort on footpaths. The confluence is on a hill, such that there are great views into the Toscana during the walk. There are olive trees, pine trees, and cypresses. A path leads up to 20 m to the point; only for these last 20 m, we had to penetrate some thickets.
After the visit, we drove back to Grosseto and took a train back to Zurich.
Interestingly, the so-far two reports of this confluence are quite contrary to each other: ours as great as it can get, theirs as bad as it can get (particularly if one misses asking for permission!). The description of the point of report no. 1 is most likely the reason why this point has only been visited once so far. But I suggest: visit the point – it is great!
CP Visit Details:


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Allen County Public Library
Genealogy Department
900 Webster St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 2270
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801
Mon, Tue, Wed & Thur: 9am-9pm
Friday & Saturday: 9am-6pm
Sunday*: 12NOON-5pm
- Closed Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day
Before visiting the library, be sure to check out the online catalog which will help you make the most of your trip.
The Genealogy Collection
This renowned collection includes more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items of microfilm and microfiche. Patrons of the department also have access to major online databases at:
African American Heritage
Historical Detroit Free Press
Origins Network: British, Irish & Scots
Paper of Record--Historical Newspapers
As a cooperating partner with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the department can provide access to more than 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical and historical records for a small handling fee per roll of film requested.
Check Allen County Public Library's website for more information on their collection.
Periodicals and PERSI
The department holds one of the largest English-language genealogy and local history periodical collection in the world with more than 5100 current subscriptions and nearly 10,000 total titles. Individual articles may be accessed through a variety of indexes including the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), compiled by department staff.
Click here to search the Genealogy Department Periodicals list.
Mentions in Red Book: American State, County, and Town Resources
This department has thousands of family genealogies; research guides; state, county, and local histories; indexes to births, deaths, marriages, cemetery inscriptions, and wills; census microfilms; passenger lists; and city directories. The collection is particularly strong for all of mid-western local history, but has other excellent regional collections as well. PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) is compiled from its extensive periodical collection. The library is a non-circulating facility, but the staff will do limited research. Response to a written query for information is usually answered promptly and very thoroughly.
As the second largest genealogical repository in North America, the collection includes significant Michigan source material.


text:
To be notified of new postings, e-mail me. We also have a paid subscription blog for families interested in more detailed analysis of China's program. Due to the sensitive nature of these articles, they are available by subscription only. (http://www.research-china.org/blogs/index.htm)
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Why We Should Find Birth Families
I understand the idea that adoptees should be empowered to search, and as adoptive parents we face a difficult challenge -- be ready when questions arise, yet allow our children to establish their own identities, identities which may or may not involve a knowledge of their birth parents. I discussed this concept in my "What to Tell & When" article. While many assumed I implied that no discussion about birth families should be instigated by the adoptive parents, in fact I believe I clearly indicated that the pace of such conversations should be controlled by the adopted child.
But what purpose do we have in searching for birth parents? Is it to provide an extended family to our adopted child? Or is it to obtain important information that will allow us as adoptive parents to accurately and definitively answer our child's questions about why they were abandoned? I firmly believe that the information about our children's history should be the primary impetus in any search.
In discussing birth parents with my own children and other adoptees, the primary "unfed" need appears to be the simple knowledge of why they were given up by their birth parents. Thus, this question must be the most important reason adoptive parents conduct searches. Although the establishment of a relationship may become more important down the road, at this point my girls express only curiosity to know the answer to that one question: "Why couldn't my birth parents keep me?"
In most cases, the answer to this question will be complicated. It may involve a gender preference, or medical issues, or premature deaths. But it may also involve money, Family Planning coercions, and deception on the part of the orphanage and others. The reality is that the real reasons our children were relinquished may have nothing to do with what we think were the reasons.
And obtaining the truth will require carefully asking difficult questions. It will require fighting back the fear we all have as adoptive parents of learning a truth that contradicts a fundamental belief we had regarding our adoption. But ultimately, knowing the truth should be our goal. We should keep that goal in mind as we do our research. As we talk with the foster families of our children, we should ask them questions about abandonment, incentive programs, Family Planning, etc. And as we search, and hopefully locate the birth parents of our child, instead of basking in the afterglow of our success, we should realize that the pursuit of our child's truth is just beginning.
4 comments:
- Elizabeth said...
I think finding siblings would be a motivating factor. I wonder how difficult this search would be?
Knowing the truth..sure, if you can get to it. There are so many obstacles. Relinquishing a child in China seems to be for a lot of (in my opinion) sad reasons. Maybe processing the anquish around the abandoment is really where our girls (and boys) will find peace. - 12/07/2010 12:35 PM
- Snowflowers Mum said...
I am motivated to finding out as much as I can about my daughters(both of them)birthparents because I believe this is a link to their identity that could help them as they encounter all 'those questions' throughout their lives.
I am not naiive enough to think that if(million dollar, needle in haystack if) we were to locate their birthparents that a 'relationship' would be welcomed or even possible, but I will soldier foward in the hope that some contact would be possible and some questions would be answered.
I am not the 'owner' of my children, they belong to themselves and they have two families, her birthparents are the link to her culture and heritage, and race...and us, her adoptive parents are the ones who provide love, nurture and encourage them to strive for happiness and success in life.
I believe that each and every circumstance and each and every child and family will have different dymamics and will approach the search, the possible finding and the possibility of contact with different motivations and results.
For us, it is a link, a connection, and knowledge...and if the stars align...a relationship that allows my children to understand the whole picture from all sides.
Our family works with a transracial, Asian adoptee Therapist(yeah we are that lucky!), and she has herself met her birthparents in Asia and accompanied many clients who have found their birthparents...each story is different, some go well, some dont...but the key is that there is almost always some kind of 'coming to terms' with the story of their adoptions. - 12/07/2010 2:34 PM
I am an adult adoptee.
I was well into adulthood when I reconnected with my birth family.
There is a lot to be said for just knowing what happened, for better or for worse. One thing I always wondered, and which is echoed by my daughters, is what our birthparents looked like. We go through our entire lives never seeing anyone who shares our features.
It sounds hollow if this is all that we are able to find, but it does provide a surprising level of satisfaction. If they are ever able to obtain even this, it will be of great value. - 2/22/2011 10:34 PM
- cheryl Ades said...
Thanks for all who support our quest for the truth. I recently went to Qujiang and found all the paperwork was fabricated the girls were bought by the orphanage. My quest for truth for my child is not over...it is just beginning! Thanks like minded families for supporting each other and supporting our girls need to know. Especially, thanks to Brian and Lan. Love to you both!!


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3 girls claim they were imprisoned in Tucson home for 2 years
| Tucson, Ariz.
Two people were arrested Tuesday after three girls told authorities that they have been imprisoned in an Arizona home for possibly the past two years.
Tucson police said the girls are siblings — ages 12, 13, and 17 — and their mother and stepfather have been arrested in a case that's being investigated as alleged child abuse and imprisonment.
Police said a 34-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were booked into the Pima County Jail on suspicion of three counts of kidnapping, three counts of child abuse-emotional abuse and three counts of child abuse-physical abuse.
The man also was accused of one count of sexual abuse of a person under age 15, according to police, who didn't immediately know Tuesday night if the couple had attorneys.
The Associated Press is not naming the adults to avoid identifying the children.
Tucson Police Capt. Michael Gillooly said at a news conference that all three girls were malnourished and dirty, and they told officers they hadn't taken a bath in up to six months.
"They were kept in filthy living conditions," said Gillooly, adding that the two youngest girls were kept in a separate bedroom from their 17-year-old sister.
The girls also told authorities that they were fed only once daily and had been imprisoned in their bedrooms for at least the past several months and possibly up to two years.
Police went to a midtown home on reports of a domestic violence incident about 4 a.m. Tuesday, according to Gillooly.
The two youngest girls told officers that they ran to a neighbor's home after their stepfather kicked in the door and threatened them with a knife. The unidentified neighbor called 911.
When officers went into the house, Gillooly said they found the oldest girl in another bedroom.
Gillooly declined to answer any questions about the case. More information was expected to be released Wednesday.
A resident who has lived in the neighborhood for about five years told the Arizona Daily Star that she didn't know anyone was living in the home, which is set back from the street.
The woman said there was no visible activity at the house, but other neighbors had told her that they had heard what sounded like children playing inside the house at night.
The Star reported that police removed plastic bags containing evidence from the home and what appeared to be a computer.


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The idea for the User Groups grew from the vision of Power BI users wanting to connect with other users and learn firsthand the best way to leverage the software they used every day.
We look at everything we do, from our educational offerings to our member benefits to our annual user conference, as a way to help members achieve your ultimate goal - growing your knowledge and competency in your Power BI system.
With that in mind, members are at the forefront of our content and strategy. Our Advisory Committee, made up of member representatives, leads the strategic direction of PowerBIUG. Members volunteer their time and talents to present webinars, lead PUG meetings and share their tips. With each new member, the value of the community and the shared knowledge base grows - increasing the learning and education for all who are engaged.
To engage every individual and company using Power BI in value-added networking and knowledge sharing and to be the single most important communication channel for Microsoft to seek guidance on future development of Power BI.
Dynamic Communities is an independent business management organization that develops and supports technology-centric, community-driven user group communities – providing necessary resources and business operations such as staff, systems and event production.
With business management provided by Dynamic Communities, user group volunteer leaders at the grassroots level can focus entirely on cultivating rich community engagement and delivering authentic member value.


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All new for 2010, the Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact tire is set to redefine the motorcycle industry with its proprietary Chicken Strip Assessment Technology. Do your buddies brag about how far over they can lean their bike? How they're the next Golden God of Canyon Carving? With Metzler's Chicken Strip Assessment Technology system, there's little doubt about how much you're compensating for something else; and now you can rate your manhood on a scale from 1 to 5. Now go chase that crazy elephant! Chase him!
We here at Asphalt & Rubber always appreciated it when companies send us press releases, keeping us abreast of their business's most recent news and products. However we have a hard time understanding the press releases from tire companies: pages of hyperbole about how a tire has different weaves, treads, and compounds mean nothing if you can't experience it ripping against the asphalt.
Dear Metzler, next time you send us a press release, please include a pair of rubber doughnuts as well.


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By David Crane
defrev (at) gmail (dot) com
The following article is property of DefenseReview.com (DR) and is copyrighted material. If you are reading this article on another website other than DefenseReview.com, please email us the website address/URL (where the unauthorized DR article reprint is located) at defrev (at) gmail (dot) com. Thank you.
Image Credit: teotwawki.ws
July 30, 2013
Last updated on 7/31/13.
Here at DefenseReview (DR), we cover the latest and greatest tactical tech, including military tech, but all of that stuff won't matter all that much if the United States' power grid gets taken out by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon/bomb, sending America back into the industrial age or earlier for months or even years. That's why we agree with R. James Woolsey's and Dr. Peter Vincent Pry's assessment that Congress pass the SHIELD Act, which would, according to them, keep the above scenario from happening to us, or, more specifically, being done to us.
Woolsey and Pry wrote a pretty convincing piece on the necessity of the SHIELD Act for Breitbart Big Peace, and DR recommends our readers read it. Here at DR, we mostly cover the tools of the tactical trade, including tactical weapons, weapons accessories, equipment, gear and training, but we also keep our eye on the big picture–and the Woolsey/Pry piece is about as big picture as it gets for Homeland Security. If we can't protect our electric grid infrastructure, including communications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water, then what's the point?
So, ruggedizing an protecting America's electric/electronic power grid against EMP threats of all types should be given the highest priority. Understand, it's not just EMP weapons from Russia, China, Iran, etc. that we have to worry about. The Sun can hit us with powerful EMP pulses, as well, that can cause dangerous geomagnetic storms, including something really scary called a geomagnetic superstorm. One of these, called the Carrington Event, occured in 1859, and it was anything but pleasant. But here's the line that scared the shit out of us here at DR:
Another Carrington Event that would collapse life-sustaining electric grids and critical infrastructures everywhere on Earth is someday inevitable.
"Invevitable", not "possibly", not "probably", not "likely". In fact, the earth narrowly missed getting hit with a massive solar flare two weeks ago, which could have caused an "EMP disaster".
So, between all those big, nasty foreign meanies out there, and the SUN, the SHIELD Act looks like a national security imperative that Defense Review supports. "Enactment of SHIELD and protection of the national electric grid will secure our nation against an otherwise inevitable EMP catastrophe," say Woolsey and Pry. DR's in.


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Increases abortion vulnerable visits.Updated and constantly growing.Perfect for small and large centers. Easy to use for staff and volunteers.Add new outreach and donors.
Play an introductory video by Dinah Monahan which explains the EWYL Program.
New updates available.Keep your content relevant.Released Oct. 2019. Four new DVDs and Lessons.
Earn While You Learn has been helping centers like yours to change lives for almost two decades. The impact has been incredible, and it won't be fully known until we look back from our eternal home! As we are looking forward we are excited to see some amazing opportunities and improvements coming to EWYL in the next few years. We hope you will find these modifications just as exciting as we do!
Making new EWYL content is time consuming...and expensive. Heritage House has already invested over $100,000 in the new Spanish update and the new DVDs produced this year. But, it is all investments to make EWYL better for you and your clients! We are committed to spending the time, funds and effort necessary to take EWYL to the next level of compassion-based professional presentation.
EWYL is already the go-to program for PRCs who want to make a difference in their clients' lives, but we know we can do more. We believe that we have made the down-payment on that commitment this year, which you can see in the Spanish and Main Curriculum upgrades. In the next few years, the improvements will be even greater!
Heritage House has begun working with a professional video production company to produce new, engaging and up-to-date video content for EWYL.
Our goal is to bring truth and love into a format that strengthens relationships and prepares clients to make wise decisions. Each video will be practical, documented and designed specifically for the EWYL format.
The end result will be professional DVDs that are written and produced for your clients.
If you are looking for EWYL in an online format, www.BrightCourse.com is up and running! Not only does it have the newest lessons and upgrades, it also let's you text lessons and have the homework filled out online. Give it a shot today for 30 days for free (no obligation, no CC needed).
The 2016 Upgrade includes our first DVDs from our partner, True to Life Productions. We know you will love the quality - but you can see some of that quality right now! Just click on the "Preview" link below next to the lesson to see a 10 minute clip of the video. These videos will keep your clients attention, teach them truth, and help you create even stronger relationships!
To see details on the Main Curriculum Upgrade, please go here.
Marriage is on the decline and many couples are making unhealthy choices for both themselves and their families. This new pack helps answer these problems by giving both partners the information they need to make the right decisions.
The Partnership Pack includes two modules, one for men, and one for women. Each module has five complimenting lessons that teach vital information about relationships and marriage. For details and to preview the DVDs, go to the Positive Partnerships page.
We have created a booklet designed to give you the knowledge you need to run EWYL in your center, with the maximum impact on your clients, in the most efficient manner. EWYL can be administered in many different formats, but many of the best practices still apply to all centers.
To read the EWYL Best Practices booklet, just go here.
Earn While You Learn is an amazing curriculum program that has changed the lives of tens-of-thousands of men and women across the nation. It has helped almost 1,000 Pregnancy Resource Centers offer both hope and help to those who need it most. It has increased the abortion vulnerable visits to their centers that has led to many lives being saved. And, it has helped those very same women who chose life for their babies to learn, grow, and understand how to be good mothers to their children. Pregnancy Resource Centers using Earn While You Learn have made generational changes in their communities that will save and change lives for many years to come.
Earn While You Learn (EWYL) covers the many different topics Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) use on a daily basis. The collection of lessons is now 230 strong with 46 different modules divided into 9 different packs. With such a large collection, Heritage House makes a constant and purposeful effort to keep the content and supplies up-to-date. Information changes, dress styles go in and out, and recommendations get more specific. To make sure that EWYL is as effective as possible we consistently replace older DVDs and re-write lessons that need refreshing.
If you want to increase your abortion vulnerable clients, EWYL is one of the best and most proven method. While many tactics rely on cold-contacts (billboards, phone book, etc.), EWYL creates an environment where your services are promoted between friends. The young women in your EWYL classes have circles of friends that include those who are the most abortion vulnerable. When an unplanned pregnancy occurs, many times women go to friends first - and those friends can tell them about your center. Most centers using EWYL don't just see a dramatic increase in visits for instruction - they also see a significant increase in abortion minded appointments.
Giving things away free only enables our clients and fosters the entitlement mentality. With EWYL, clients come to you to learn how to be good parents. In the process, they form healthy bonds with their parenting instructors. In the end, they are able to walk out of your center with much needed items for their babies and a pride in their sense of accomplishment. The lessons they learn are crucial to the emotional and physical well being of their babies and break cycles of poor parenting, neglect and abuse.
EWYL is written in an easy to use, easy to understand format. The lessons are presented using DVDs, worksheets, reading and verbal information with supporting graphics. Your clients will see, hear and read the information, then take home homework lessons that reinforce what they learned. When this information is presented by a parenting instructor who they come to know and respect, the results are dramatic and life changing.
EWYL is simple to present and to understand. Each lesson comes with clear instructions and a supply list. The lessons have open ended questions and an answer sheet for the presenter. Each lesson has homework with an answer sheet. It's all there, ready to use. Centers across the country report that it is easier than they ever imagined to implement. Their lay counselors love it! And, they love the fact that they no longer feel like their center is a revolving door, just handing out diapers and clothes but not making an impact on their client's lives. They are finally able to establish long term relationships that allow them to make a difference in their client's lives with God's love and wisdom!


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As a mom with a full-time start-up job, my desire to live off the land is largely aspirational. I do keep six lovely chickens, who are remarkably easy to care for, and have a small garden which I tend to neglect (the chickens enjoy it, though!) But there's so much more I could do, and it's good to have goals. Good thing the East Bay Mini Maker Faire will be there to inspire me, and everyone else, to become real urban homesteaders. Let's take a look at some of these Makers.
First off, let's talk about getting to the Mini Maker Faire. Farmers may drive big ole trucks, but urban homesteaders bike. Which is a good thing, because there's not remotely enough car parking near the school to accommodate the crowds we're expecting. Fortunately, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition will be there to take care of your bike during your visit. They have graciously offered to provide secure bike parking, and since they've done this before and know what they're doing, it will be organized and efficient. Repeat after me: I WILL BIKE to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire.
Once your ride is in good hands, head on over to the Alameda County Beekeepers, to learn about the huge impact these tiny buzzing creatures have on our lives, and how they can be a part of your life. This is no nostalgic revival trend; this beekeeping group was founded in 1916 and has been operating since. Bees' recent troubles — of the mysterious disappearance variety– have made beekeeping more popular lately, not just for honey fans but for gardeners and all plant-lovers who think that thing called pollination might be kind of important. Let the ACB show you what it takes to keep a swarm, and even what to do if you have an unwelcome hive in your yard (they'll happily take them off your hands.)
Next up is my favorite. Mario Klip from Holland Hen Houses is going to bring a few coops, and hopefully a few hens, and all of you Bay Area foodies who've been thinking about the joys of fresh-from-the-nesting-box eggs can ask Mario everything you need to know about raising chickens. I can personally attest to fact that it's cheaper to just buy your eggs at the supermarket, but that the moment you reach under your girl and feel that warm, hard, ovoid object, you will be so delighted you won't care. Not only are the eggs great, but hens are hysterical pets. Mine insist on coming in the house and acting like they own the place. But don't take chicken keeping lightly; do it by the book or you're almost certain to face heartbreak. Come by and ask Mario how to do it right.
Next is a chance to learn from the youngest makers. The Kindergarten class at Park Day School will demonstrate how to make butter from cream but simply shaking the cream in a jam jar. They will have baguette slices for actually tasting the butter and jam jars for you to take some home with you. What could be sweeter, and more fun with your little one?
Speaking of jam jars, sweet, and fun, do we have the best jam-making teacher ever! Tim O'Reilly is famous as a computer book publisher, the CEO of the company that produces Maker Faire and MAKE magazine, and generally a convener of the geeks we like to watch, but he's also famous for his jam and scones, which have been written up not only in Cooking for Geeks (which hit the New York Times bestseller list) but also in a Wired magazine profile. Tim is going to show us his secret to great jam in a demonstration workshop at noon on Sunday in the Magnolia building. He is bested only by his colleague Dale Dougherty, the father of the Make movement and head of the Make division at O'Reilly, who will be on hand to show us how to press your own apple cider. Dale's cider demonstration is at 1 pm in the Magnolia building. Plan to come early for both of these; we have very limited seating.
So now your home makes its own honey, eggs, butter, jam and cider. Shouldn't it capture its own water, too? Two fantastic Makers will be on hand to help with this one. The lovely folks at WaterWorks held a festival of water-wise strategies, and are bringing a few of the best exhibits, including a system for growing veggies on a small footprint, an all season rain-catcher/clothes-dryer/garden sculpture, and play-pump that lets kids bounce on a horse's back and watch the pump work. To complement their work, Greywater Action will be on hand with a life sized greywater system, mini-water harvesting system, and a model composting toilet. Learn how these simple practices can transform your home water systems from wasting and polluting water, to conserving and protecting it. You're really urban homesteading now!


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Children Underrepresented in Clinical Drug Trials: Study
When drugs are tested only in adults, kids and their doctors are at a disadvantage, researchers say
URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_129791.html
(*this news item will not be available after 12/30/2012)
Monday, October 1, 2012
This puts children and their physicians at a significant disadvantage, the researchers concluded.
"Although children comprise one-quarter of the population in the United States, they are greatly underrepresented in the clinical trial process that is designed to lead to new and better therapies, determine appropriate drug dosages and establish standards of practice," said study first author Dr. Sara Pasquali, who is now co-director of the Michigan Congenital Heart Outcomes Research and Discovery Program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"For the vast majority of therapies used on children every day in the United States and around the world, clinicians lack basic data to support decisions about the correct dosage, the best type of medication to use and the appropriate situations to provide treatment," she said in a Duke news release.
In conducting the study, which was published online Oct. 1 in the journal Pediatrics, the researchers examined more than 60,000 research trials from 2005 to 2010 using data entered into the ClinicalTrials.gov registry. The analysis revealed that slightly more than 5,000 of those trials (about 8 percent) were designed for children younger than 18 years old.
The researchers also found that 23 percent of the pediatric trials included infectious diseases or vaccine studies and 13 percent involved psychiatric or mental health studies.
The fact that many pediatric diseases are uncommon and diverse could play a role in the small number of drug studies involving children, the researchers suggested.
"Many pediatric diseases are relatively rare, as opposed to something like adult coronary artery disease. As a result, it can take much more time to build a research infrastructure, often involving multiple hospitals, to enroll enough patients in a study," Pasquali said. "But with fewer studies to guide therapeutic decisions, treatments and outcomes for young patients often vary widely from center to center."
The study also revealed that drug studies involving children often were small. As a result, it's harder to draw conclusions that could be applied to a large population of people. The researchers said larger pediatric trials that focused on the most pressing questions would be more helpful than many small trials.
They noted that their findings should provide insight for researchers, funders and policymakers who have addressed this issue in recent years.
"Conducting clinical trials with children is a complex issue -- they are not volunteers, they are dissimilar in terms of size and disease condition, and the number of patients is a lot less than what we would find among adults," study senior author Dr. Jennifer Li, a member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, said in the news release. "This analysis provides one snapshot in time, and it's good to know what the research landscape is so that we can address where we should focus our efforts."
The study was part of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative, a public-private partnership founded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Duke University to identify ways to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical trials.
Copyright (c) 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
- More Health News on:
- Children's Health
- Clinical Trials
- Drug Safety


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Show All Answers
Tours, presentations and ride alongs can be requested through a form available at the Kearney Law Enforcement Center or by calling (308) 233-5241.
Information on how to report complaints and commendations is available under the Office of Professional Standards page. Forms are available online and can also be picked up at the Kearney Law Enforcement Center. For more information call (308) 237-2104.
You may receive your Nebraska Criminal History background information by contacting the Nebraska State Patrol Criminal History Repository at 402-479-4971 and they will explain the procedure for obtaining the information you need.
Fingerprints are taken at the Buffalo County Jail located at 1512 Central Ave. Call (308) 233-5282 for more information. Appointment required.
Accident reports can be accessed online by clicking on the link "Accident Reports" below. Reports are also available at the Law Enforcement Center, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
If an accident report is accessed online, there is no fee. Please note the Law Enforcement Center does accept debit or credit cards, excluding American Express.
Parking citations can be paid at the Kearney Law Enforcement Center. The office hours of the Records Office are 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday. There is also a drop box located in the lobby if you are unable to come in during those hours. Please note the Law Enforcement Center does accept debit or credit cards.
You must purchase a handgun permit from the county in which you reside. A form can be obtained from the Kearney Law Enforcement Center Records Office, Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There is a fee of $5.00 due at the time of application and one form of identification, with address and date of birth, must also be presented at the time of application. The process does take three full working days and it is required that you return to the Law Enforcement Center to sign the permit once it has been approved. Please note the Law Enforcement Center does accept debit or credit cards.
An application can be picked up at the Kearney Law Enforcement Center, Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or the application can also be downloaded from the City of Kearney website. In order to receive a permit a person must have an Identification Card/Driver's License, Federal ID number, State Sales Tax Permit (depending on product) and a State Food Permit (if food is the product). The fee for the permit is $25/day or $250/annual. The annual permit will always run from January 1-December 31. The application process can take up to three working days. Please note the Law Enforcement Center does accept debit or credit cards.
Questions regarding the release of property held as evidence should be addressed through the County Attorney's Office. The phone number is (308) 236-1222 and they are located at the Buffalo County Courthouse, 1512 Central Ave., Kearney, Nebraska.


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Interview: Billy Gibbons on ZZ Top's NYC live setlist
Interview: Billy Gibbons on ZZ Top's NYC live setlist
Hot on the heels of the release of their stripped-down, oh-so-bluesy, Rick Rubin-produced new album La Futura, ZZ Top played a rousing and rambunctious show at New York City's famed Beacon Theatre last night (12 September).
MusicRadar caught up with guitarist Billy Gibbons this morning to get his thoughts on the performance and to go over the tracklist song by song:
"Man, it was so warm last night, the feeling in that room. Everybody was so happy to be there, and they brought such a spirit into the place. When you're on a stage like that, with a crowd like that, you can't help but be lifted up. In a word – rockin'! The place was full of energy.
"It deserves mentioning the absolute quality of sound in that room. I've talked to Gregg Allman about it, and we suspect that the molecules have been resonanted into complete, total alignment. You can't beat that room.
"It's a grand theatre, but when you're on the stage performing and you're looking out, you can't take it all in – which is beneficial, really, because it would be so distracting to the craft of playing music. Those towering figurines in the corners do come into focus from time to time, and they're a sight to behold."
The setlist
"There's quite a few songs from Tres Hombres. We compared the set with a previous engagement at the Beacon and decided to throw in some left turns to add some freshness and treat those in attendance to something that was a little oddball.
"For instance, Vincent Price Blues: responding to an unusual, inordinate amount of e-mails requesting the song, we started playing it in Europe, and it's worked out quite well in the set.
"The funny thing, referring to our new album which is now officially on the street, it's come to our attention that some of these songs are heavily requested, particularly the early ones we put out as a sneak peak on iTunes. We've gotta go back and relearn them, relearn what we're supposed to know! [laughs] But we will. I have a feeling all of them are strong contenders."
I Thank You
"This takes us back to the Memphis days. It was our subtle, second-level messaging to everybody, because we really do appreciate the fans who take the time to come out and enjoy the night with us. It's us saying, 'We thank you.'"
Waitin' For The Bus
"We've been playing it since '73, when it appeared on Tres Hombres. The transition where we go from Waitin' For The Bus into Jesus Just Left Chicago, the segue between the two songs that's on the record has become part of the show.
"It was an accident, too. The engineer was sequencing the selected tracks, and he inadvertently shorted the space – it was supposed to be three or four seconds. Thing is, it was seamless, so that's how we learned it to play live."
Jesus Just Left Chicago
"This is one of our favorites. We get to change it up by inserting the name of the city we're playing in. You gotta do it. Oh, you gotta!" [laughs]
"Another favorite. This one is from 1990. Antenna was our first release after we left Warner Bros. and went over to BMG.
"Dusty really enjoys playing it because it reminds him of how happy he is to not be performing it like we were forced to when making the video. There's a brief scene in the Pincushion video where we're flying up and down in this giant box that had these wooden needles coming at us. The harness we were forced to wear to pull off this flying act was miserably uncomfortable.
"Dusty said, 'Yeah, I'll play Pincushion all night long – not like we did in the video, though!'"
Heard It On The X
"Just a good old rocker. It's fast and furious, and we always enjoy delivering it.
"The fingering on that particular riff is somewhat challenging. In the solo, it's not single-note picking, it's highlighting the overlapping guitar riff. The kick drum goes away, Dusty's bass drops out and it's pretty much just guitar. It gets to the point where it's a real show-off spot."
25 Lighters - I Gotsta Get Paid
"I'm still trying to get the words to this one unraveled. Last night, I had a little cheat sheet in front of me. The origin of the tune was a hip-hop number from 15 years ago, which has now been bluesified thanks to the inspiration of Lightnin' Hopkins.
"Those two genres collided, leaving us with I Gotsta Get Paid as you hear it now. Trying to unravel the words shows you one thing: I don't think you're going to see ZZ Top doing straight rap and hip-hop numbers. But we are having a good time with the tune as it is now."
Gimme All Your Lovin'
"Oh, yeah! We stuck that in – it comes and goes. We positioned it after the performance of I Gotsta Get Paid as kind of a relief. It's a song we're quite familiar with, and that drumming introduction takes the heat off of somewhere other than me."
Vincent Price Blues
"It is a blues number, but it's got some unorthodox chord changes that make it particularly appealing.
"The guitar feedback is just on the brink of becoming unmanageable. We've got a setting on the guitar that we switch to just to perform the song, and it creates a kind of ghostliness – it's right on the cusp of being runaway. The feedback can be a problem if it gets out of control, but in this case, it adds a texture that really enhances the overall effect."
Heaven, Hell Or Houston
"It was almost added as kind of the end-band challenge. If Vincent Price Blues weren't weird enough, Heaven, Hell Or Houston surely would be.
"It's one of the more obtuse numbers that we ever released. I think it was the closing song on El Loco. It's become a favorite for everybody, but it is something of a secret challenge for the band members. The song might sound simple, but the time signature actually changes three times. It's tricky."
My Head's In Mississippi
"Just a good boogie favorite. We pulled it off last night, but it was funny - I said, 'Hey, if we stretched this out, I can get more syllables out of New York Ci-taaaaay!' So we stuck it in and it worked."
Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
"Another gem from the barrel of fun, Tres Hombres. Dusty gets to shout it out and sing the good line: 'Hell raisers!' Yeah, we like raising a little hell."
"It's the closest thing to a pop song that we do. This one's on Afterburner. It's kind of uplifting. I guess it's something for the girls."
Sharp Dressed Man
"It's one of the titles that we can't seem to dismiss from an evening's performance. Believe it or not, you cannot believe the number of e-mails we get the next day after a show – 'You didn't play Cheap Sunglasses,' 'You didn't play whatever' – so we've been kind of tossing the coin on some songs.
"You can't please everybody all the time. Something's gotta give. But Sharp Dressed Man seems to make its way in there."
"It's our chance to show off the influence of Bo Diddley. He's the one who taught us how to put fur on our guitars.
"The particular fur on our instruments is nicely groomed. Mr. Elwood Francis and Mr. TJ Gordon, our respective guitar technicians, actually have groomer's combs to make sure our strings don't get trapped in the fur. Although it has happened!" [laughs]
Tube Snake Boogie
"The night before the Beacon, we popped in and hit the stage for a little party that John Varvatos was having. It was such a great atmosphere that Dusty said, 'Let's do Elvis,' and so we pulled out Jailhouse Rock. From that same period, on the El Loco album, appeared Tube Snake Boogie.
"We were tossing the coin again. Dusty loves his ray of sunshine, getting to sing one or the other. So we flipped the coin and it came up Tube Snake Boogie, which brings us up to the two cornerstones of our career… "
La Grange
"It's been nearly 40 years, and we've played it every night. [laughs] It always feels good. The composition is two short verses at the top of the song, and then we get to steer it into Improvisational Land.
"Live, it can take a lot of twists and turns. Last night, we threw in bits of Bar-B-Q and the Jimmie Rodgers song, I'd Rather Be Sloppy Drunk. It's kind of morphed into something quite different from the version that was on the Tres Hombres album."
"It's straight ahead, and Dusty gets to come back for that extra tag-on ending. I'd say, for the majority of the shows we do, Tush seems to really resonate with our friends and followers. We've tried some other things in the past, but you can't beat letting Dusty laying it out there.
"On this song, Mr. Elwood comes out and lights up a cigar for me. It's one of the last great, cheap cigars – a Backwoods. They come eight to a pack, two bucks. A quarter a cigar, the best deal in the country.
"Doing that bit is sort of my tip of the hat to the scene in Prince's movie Purple Rain. Remember when Morris Day has his valet bring out the mirror on stage? That's what we do. We bring Elwood into the spotlight."


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I love exercises that encourage students to share their culture and knowledge of other cultures. Students love to share what they know and it's always good for a conversation starter. In order to provide topics for discussion, I like to find articles that give some knowledge and provide the possibility for me to create a test for students to discuss. First I'll give you the prompts and then I'll have some answers from an article by Sallie Brady.
World's Worst Cultural Mistakes
Give students these questions before you actually give them the article. These questions are made to generate discussion and disagreement and have students introduce their own knowledge. It's best to have students in groups of three or four. Have them talk about the following questions before they read the article. Then you can follow up the article with the remaining questions.
Pre-Article Questions:
1. What are some worst things you can think of doing when visiting other countries?
2. What are some things that I should not do in your country to avoid making a cultural mistake?
3. Is it okay to touch someone in your country?
4. Can I get in trouble using my left-hand in your country?
5. Is it okay to go running downtown without my shirt on?
6. True or False: When I meet an older person, I should look them in the eye when I talk to them.
7. True or False: You should always refill a person's glass before it's empty.
8. If a stranger puts a necklace of flowers around your neck, what should you do?
9. If you need to blow your nose at the dinner table, what should you do?
10. What are the best topics to talk about at the dinner table?
Post-Article Questions
1. What was the most surprising fact that you read in the article?
2. This article was written many years ago. Are there some things in this article that you think are no longer true?
3. What would you change or add to this list?
Here is a copy of the article and a link to the original.
World's Worst Cultural Mistakes
Don't let blowing your nose or taking off your shoes land you in hot water when you travel
By Sallie Brady
Touching Someone
Where It's Offensive: Korea, Thailand, China, Europe, the Middle East.
What's Offensive: Personal space varies as you travel the globe. In Mediterranean countries, if you refrain from touching someone's arm when talking to them or if you don't greet them with kisses or a warm embrace, you'll be considered cold. But backslap someone who isn't a family member or a good friend in Korea, and you'll make them uncomfortable. In Thailand, the head is considered sacred — never even pat a child on the head.
What You Should Do Instead: Observe what locals are doing and follow suit. In Eastern countries remember that touching and public displays of affection are unacceptable. In places like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, men and women are forbidden from interacting, let alone touching.
Knowing Your Right from Your Left
Where It's Offensive: India, Morocco, Africa, the Middle East.
What's Offensive: Many cultures still prefer to eat using traditional methods — their hands. In these cases, food is often offered communally, which is why it's important to wash your hands before eating and observe the right-hand-is-for-eating and the left-hand-is-for-other-duties rule. If you eat with your left hand, expect your fellow diners to be mortified. And when partaking from a communal bowl, stick to a portion that's closest to you. Do not get greedy and plunge your hand into the center.
What You Should Do Instead: Left-handed? Attempt to be ambidextrous — even children who are left-handed in these cultures are taught to eat with their right hand
— or at least explain yourself to your fellow diners before plunging in.
Keeping Your Clothes On
Where It's Offensive: Scandinavian countries, Turkey.
What's Offensive: Wearing bathing suits, shorts, and T-shirts, underwear, or any other piece of clothing into a sauna, hammam, or other places of physical purification. In some cultures, a steam room or a sauna is considered a place of purity and reflection, where the outside world (i.e., your clothes) should be left outside. In some Scandinavian countries, it's common for entire families to sauna together in the nude.
What You Should Do Instead: Sitting on a folded towel is considered acceptable. If you're too modest to appear naked, strip down, but wrap yourself in a towel.
Getting Lei'd Off
Where It's Offensive: Hawaii.
What's Offensive: Refusing or immediately removing a lei.
What You Should Do Instead: Leis in the Hawaiian Islands aren't just pretty floral necklaces that you get when you check into your hotel or show up at a luau. They're a centuries-old cultural symbol of welcome, friendship, and appreciation. Never refuse a lei — it's considered highly disrespectful — or whip it off in the giver's presence. If you're allergic to the flowers, explain so, but offer to put it in some place of honor, say in the center of the table, or on a statue. Note that closed leis should be worn not hanging from the neck, but over the shoulder, with half draped down your chest and the other half down your back.
Looking Them in the Eye … or Not
Where It's Offensive: Korea, Japan, Germany.
What's Offensive: For Americans, not making direct eye contact can be considered rude, indifferent, or weak, but be careful how long you hold someone's gaze in other countries. In some Asian nations, prolonged eye contact will make a local uncomfortable, so don't be offended if you're negotiating a deal with someone who won't look you straight in the eye. If toasting with friends in a German beer hall, your eyes had better meet theirs — if they don't, a German superstition says you're both in for seven years of bad luck in the bedroom.
What You Should Do Instead: Avoid constant staring and follow the behavior of your host — and by all means, look those Germans straight on.
Drinking Alcohol the Wrong Way
Where It's Offensive: Latin America, France, Korea, Russia.
What's Offensive: Every culture has different traditions when it comes to drinking etiquette. Fail to consume a vodka shot in one gulp in Russia, and your host will not be impressed. Refill your own wine glass in France without offering more to the rest of the table, and you've made a faux pas. In Korea, women can pour only men's drinks — not other women's — and if you want a refill, you need to drain your glass. And if you're in Latin America, never pour with your left hand — that's bad luck.
What You Should Do Instead: Until you're culturally fluent, leave it to your pals to pour.
Blowing Your Nose
Where It's Offensive: Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, France.
What's Offensive: Some cultures find it disgusting to blow your nose in public — especially at the table. The Japanese and Chinese are also repelled by the idea of a handkerchief. As Mark McCrum points out in his book Going Dutch in Beijing, the Japanese word hanakuso unpleasantly means nose waste.
What You Should Do Instead: If traveling through Eastern and Asian countries, leave the hankies at home and opt for disposable tissues instead. In France as well as in Eastern countries, if you're dining and need to clear your nasal passages, excuse yourself and head to the restroom. Worst-case scenario: make an exaggerated effort to steer away from the table. Let's hope you don't have a cold.
Removing Your Shoes…or Not
Where It's Offensive: Hawaii, the South Pacific, Korea, China, Thailand.
What's Offensive: Take off your shoes when arriving at the door of a London dinner party and the hostess will find you uncivilized, but fail to remove your shoes before entering a home in Asia, Hawaii, or the Pacific Islands and you'll be considered disrespectful. Not only does shoe removal very practically keeps sand and dirt out of the house, it's a sign of leaving the outside world behind.
What You Should Do Instead: If you see a row of shoes at the door, start undoing your laces. If not, keep the shoes on.
Talking Over Dinner
Where It's Offensive: Africa, Japan, Thailand, China, Finland.
What's Offensive: In some countries, like China, Japan, and some African nations, the food's the thing, so don't start chatting about your day's adventures while everyone else is digging into dinner. You'll likely be met with silence—not because your group is unfriendly, but because mealtimes are for eating, not talking. Also, avoid
conversations in places a country might consider sacred or reflective—churches in Europe, temples in Thailand, and saunas in Finland.
What You Should Do Instead: Keep quiet!
Road Rage
Where It's Offensive: Hawaii, Russia, France, Italy, around the globe.
What's Offensive: Honk on Molokai or fail to pay a police officer a fine, a.k.a. bribe, on the spot when you're stopped for speeding in Russia, and you'll risk everything from scorn to prison time. Remember, too, that hand gestures have different meanings in other countries — a simple "thumbs-up" is interpreted as an "up yours" in parts of the Middle East.
What You Should Do Instead: When driving abroad, make sure you have an international driver's license; never, ever practice road rage; and keep your hands on the
Did You Learn Anything?
Hopefully, this article will be interesting to students and teachers alike. Personally I try to find articles that interest me and I figure if it interests me then students will like it. Unfortunately, that is not always true. I've had plenty of duds, but that is why I am writing this page so that you can learn from my mistakes.
I hope you have an interesting and fun-filled discussion because, as we all know, Teaching English is Fun!
~ Jim


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Off the Air With Jeremy: Looking for the General Lee
Cue the Dixie horn, baby!
I am a child of the '80s, so like many others, I grew up with the Duke boys, Bo and Luke. But I'm not sure other people who watched 'The Dukes of Hazzard' are as obsessed with the star of the show as I am.
Yes, Daisy was the woman on the show with the legs that those short shorts made look even better. But I'm not talking about Ms. Duke -- I'm talking about the General Lee!
I am absolutely obsessed -- and always have been -- with the 1969 Dodge Charger! Do any of you have one? Do you know anybody who has one? I simply have to own a General Lee before I die, although I know -- thanks to producer Todd -- that there is no way I could get through the window like the Duke boys did. Ha! I might have to go on a salad diet, just in case you know someone who owns one and is willing to let me take it for a spin!
I guess for now I just have to keep on dreaming.
Jeremy Robinson is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show that airs on 41 stations across the United States on weeknights. Radio has been his life since the age of nine, when he "hosted" a show out of his bedroom. After almost 16 years on the air, country music isn't just his job — it's also his passion.


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Dad, Are You Awake?
Do your sons ever wonder if you are asleep when it comes to the things that are most important to them?
A short while ago, Elder Pace, Elder Condie, and I met with the First Presidency. As we entered the room, President Hinckley looked carefully at us and then with a smile on his face said, "How can three white-headed, old men be the Young Men presidency of this Church?" Our only response was, "Because you called us to be, President."
Young men, we hope that you are excited about the Aaronic Priesthood: Fulfilling Our Duty to God program. It has been introduced to all of the Aaronic Priesthood throughout the world. It is designed to bless you spiritually, physically, socially, and mentally. The requirements are meaningful and will stretch you almost to the limits of your capability. You will be able to establish personal goals and achieve them with the help of your parents and your great leaders. There is a wonderful excitement associated with this program all over the Church. We want every one of you to qualify and receive the coveted Duty to God Award.
Many years ago I took our only son on his first camping, fishing trip. He was just a boy. The canyon was steep, and the descent was difficult. But the fishing was good. Every time I hooked a fish I would give the pole to the eager boy, and with shouts of joy he would reel in a beautiful trout. In the shadows and coolness of the late afternoon, we began our climb back up to the rim high above us. He scrambled rapidly up the mountain ahead of me with a challenging, "Come on, Dad. I'll bet I can beat you to the top." The challenge was heard but wisely ignored. His small frame seemed literally to fly over, under, and around every obstacle, and when every step that I took seemed ridiculously like my last, he had reached the top and stood cheering me on. After supper we knelt in prayer. His small voice rose sweetly heavenward in benediction to our day. Then we climbed into our large double sleeping bag, and after a bit of pushing and pulling I felt his little body snuggle and settle tightly against mine for warmth and security against the night. As I looked at my son beside me, suddenly I felt a surge of love pass through my body with such force that it pushed tears to my eyes. And, at that precise moment, he put his little arms around me and said, "Dad."
"Yes, son."
"Are you awake?"
"Yes, my son, I am awake."
"Dad, I love you a million, trillion times!"
And immediately he was asleep. But I was awake far into the night, expressing my great thanks for such wonderful blessings clothed with a little boy's body.
Now my son is a man with a son of his own. Once in a while the three of us go fishing. I look at my little red-headed grandson beside his father, and I see in my mind's eye the image of that wonderful moment long ago. The question so innocently asked, "Dad, are you awake?" still rings in my heart.
To every father, I pose the same penetrating question, "Dad, are you awake?" Do your sons ever wonder if you are asleep when it comes to the things that are most important to them? I would suggest that there are several areas that would indicate whether we are "awake" or "asleep" in the eyes of our sons.
First, our love for God and accepting our role as the family leader in keeping His commandments. Some years ago, following a stake conference, I felt impressed to pay a visit to a priesthood brother who had fallen away from the Church. We found him working in his garden. I approached him and said, "Dear brother, the Lord Jesus Christ has sent me to see you. I am Elder Hammond, one of His servants."
We exchanged a Latin abrazo and entered into his lovely little home. He called for his wife and three children to join us. Two handsome young men and a beautiful girl sat beside their father and mother. I asked the children what they would like, more than anything else in the world, right now. The oldest son spoke: "If only all of us could go back to church as a family, we would be so happy—so grateful." We told them how much they were needed by the Savior and how He loved them. We bore our testimonies to them and then knelt in prayer. The father prayed. The mother wept. They are now back in full fellowship. The children are proud of their father, and they are happy.
Every father in the Church should function as the patriarch of his home. He should take the lead in spiritually guiding the family. He ought not to delegate nor abrogate his responsibilities to the mother. He should call for family prayer, family home evening, scripture reading, and occasional father interviews. He is the protector, the defender, and the kindly source of discipline. It is the father who should lead, unify, and solidify the family unit by accepting the priesthood of God and responding to the calls and privileges associated with priesthood authority. His relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, is one of the beacons which will lead his sons and daughters through the stormy shoals of life.
If Dad is a true disciple of Jesus Christ, then the sons will follow him as the night the day. "Dad, are you awake?"
Second, the relationship we have with our wives—their mothers. Considering everything else that we do, the way we treat our wives could well have the greatest impact on the character of our sons. If a father is guilty of inflicting verbal or physical abuse in any degree on his companion, his sons will resent him for it, perhaps even despise him for it. But interestingly enough, when they are grown and marry, they are likely to follow the same pattern of abuse with their wives. There is an urgent need in our society for fathers who respect their wives and treat them with sweet, tender love.
Recently I heard of a father who foolishly called his beautiful, intelligent wife "stupid" and "dumb" in a most degrading manner for some small mistake that she had innocently made. The children listened, embarrassed and frightened for their mother. She was belittled in front of those that she loved most. Although an apology and forgiveness were expressed, there still remained the hurt and shame of a senseless moment.
The Spirit of the Lord cannot be expected to bless our lives if we persist in being angry, callous, and cruel to our mates. We cannot expect our sons to develop respect and gentleness toward their mothers if we do not provide the proper example. President David O. McKay said, "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother" (quoted from Theodore Hesburgh, Reader's Digest, Jan. 1963, 25; in Richard Evans' Quote Book [1971], 11). "Dad, are you awake?"
Third, to provide discipline that is just and administered with love. Too often out of our own frustration and weakness we raise our hands to strike our children, usually in an attempt to protect our own selfish pride. Every child needs to be disciplined. Not only do they need it; they expect it; they want it. Discipline gives direction and teaches self-control, but in all discipline there should be a sense of righteous judgment and pure love.
When I was a little boy, my widowed mother gave me the most severe discipline possible. She said, with tears in her eyes, "My son, I am so disappointed in you." The pain in my heart was more than I could bear. A thousand lashes could not have cut me so deeply. I knew that such a rebuke could only have been made to me out of her pure love, for if there was one thing that I was certain of, it was that my mother loved me. I resolved never again to be subject to the disappointment and the broken heart of an angel mother. I believe that I have succeeded in that resolve.
When it comes to discipline, "Dad, are you awake?"
Dads, it is imperative that the challenges I have mentioned be mastered in our lives if our sons are to be spiritually and emotionally mature. If we do, then they will not be ashamed of us, nor will they ever be ashamed of themselves. They will become men of honor, respect, full of love, willing to serve the Savior and submit their will to Him. Then we will rejoice in the fact that they are ours forever. They will say, "Dad, are you awake?"
And we will respond, "Yes, my son, I am awake."
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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MODERN Facebook fan Drew Noreen, a stylist at Arizona's Pucci Salon and artist for The Beauty Agents, created this before and after using 808 Flashpoint individual hair extensions put in silicone-lined beads.
Here's how he did it!
Brand: 808 Flashpoint
Color: 6 (Medium Brown) and 973 (Golden Blonde)
Length: 22 inch and 18 inch, both colors
"I first determined placement by accessing the hairline, keeping in mind how the client will want to style her hair," Noreen says. "Depending on density and length, I usually stay 1/2in.-1in. away from the hairline."
Using a brick laying pattern and leaving 1/2in. between each row, start at the nape of the neck with two solid rows of color 6. Starting from the third row moving up level to the top of the ears, use an alternating pattern of two color 6 to one 973. (Ex: 6, 6, 973, 6, 6... ) Use 22 in. length for this process.
With the next row, make sure to leave at least 1/2-3/4 in. of hair above the ear and 1 in. back from temple area. Start first at temple area with 973 to keep lighter pieces around the face. With an alternating pattern of one-one (6,973,6..), move around the curve of the head, ending with 973 1 in. back from opposite temple. Repeat this step one more time using the same process using 18in. length.
To finish the look, first cut any unnecessary length around the perimeter. Next, taking small sections, move around the head holding extensions out at 45º and slide cut beginning at clients natural length to create layers and remove weight. Point cut through ends to soften and take away any blunt lines. Style as desired.
WE WANT TO SEE YOUR WORK! Want to be modernsalon.com's next featured artist? Upload your work, and info on how you did it (color formulas, steps on styling or cutting method, etc) to Instagram and tag @modernsalon or use #hairdressermagic. Or, upload to Facebook at facebook.com/modernsalon. Lastly, you can always email MODERN directly: Alison Shipley email@example.com.
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.


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As you would expect, Jennifer Lopez is under fire from human-rights groups and generally everybody else for her paid performance at Turkmenistan dictator Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's lavish birthday party on Saturday (you can watch a clip of if here). In a statement released this morning, Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen said the pop star's choice to appear in the oppressed hermit nation "utterly destroy[s] the carefully-crafted message she has cultivated with her prior involvement with Amnesty International's programs in Mexico aimed at curbing violence against women." He added, "What is the next stop on her tour, Syria? The dictator of Kazakhstan's birthday is July 6, maybe she will also pay him a visit?"
Meanwhile on Twitter, Mia Farrow and her son both lambasted the appearance. Ronan Farrow, himself a human rights lawyer who most recently worked with Hillary Clinton as a special adviser for global youth issues wrote, "Singing happy birthday to dictators while dissidents and journalists die in their torture chambers? Still Jenny from the block, @JLo?" while mother Mia said, "New low for @JLo who just sang for murderous dictator of Turkmenistan- one of world's most repressive regimes via @RonanFarrow #shame."
According to the AP, Lopez's camp released a statement this morning explaining that the diva was invited to perform by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a state-run oil and gas giant that organized the trip to Turkmenistan, and she "graciously obliged" their last-minute request. Her publicist bizarrely added that if Lopez had been aware of the country's human-rights issues, she would not have performed there. Apparently, no one in Lopez's office knows how to use Google.
If you remember from yesterday, J.Lo's dancers posted about how much fun they were having at the $2 billion Caspian Sea resort. Today, the tweet from choreographer JR Taylor that read "I wonder where all my Turkmenistan followers are!? Hit me up!" was removed, likely because someone who does know to use Google discovered that, among their many human rights violations (which also include, widespread torture, considering political opposition treason, and making homosexuality illegal), the country's regime-controlled ISP actually bans sites like Facebook and Twitter.
While it's still not clear how much Lopez earned for this particular appearance, The Guardian remembers that her past performances include the wedding of an Uzbek businessman in Ukraine, for which she was paid a reported $1 million, and one for the Azeri oligarch Telman Ismailov, for which she is said to have received $1.4 million. So, expect her to donate somewhere around $1 million in the next few days.


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